-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Like many big cities in America , Atlanta is surrounded by a circular highway that connects with various freeway arteries that go through the downtown area . Weekday mornings and early evenings , no matter which highway you 're on , or what direction you 're going , you 'll likely end up stuck in some hot traffic hell .

Dana Jones , 26 , used to drive from the south end of the city by the airport to a northern suburb at peak commuting times , right through the daily mess .

`` There were so many people out , '' Jones says . `` You get road rage because nobody will let you in ; nobody will merge right . It 's just aggravating . ''

Despite the perils of a long commute , most people in the United States drive to work , according to the American Community Survey -LRB- PDF -RRB- . In fact , more than 75 % of Americans make the trek to work alone .

The stress of waiting in gridlock can get intense if you 're in a hurry , leaving you feeling frustrated and anxious about the traffic . That stress can translate into deeper health hazards . Try to distract yourself with your smartphone , and you can put yourself and other drivers in even more danger .

Longer commutes may steal health and fitness

Road rage : An 'em otional spin cycle '

LeeAnne Minnick was sitting in gridlocked traffic , waiting to get on an on-ramp , in a line of cars that had pulled over to let an ambulance pass . Suddenly , another driver darted out behind Minnick to tail the ambulance , taking advantage of the cars that had been moved , to enter the freeway .

`` That incensed me , '' says Minnick , who makes a lengthy commute from Athens , Georgia , to Atlanta -- about a 70-mile trip -- three days a week . `` I immediately flew into a rage over it . ''

That happened a couple months ago , and Minnick still sounds irritated when she describes it . She does n't act aggressively toward other drivers , but she does get bothered by disrespectful behavior on the road .

It 's easy to get lost in a cycle of emotions where you 're talking to yourself and ruminating about traffic situations , says Leon James , professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii and co-author of `` Road Rage and Aggressive Driving . ''

`` Impatience , if you do n't handle it at the beginning , tends to turn into resentment and anger , '' James says .

The back seat of the car is what James calls the `` road rage nursery . '' It 's where kids hear their parents cursing out other drivers and expressing their disbelief about everyone else 's poor skills on the road . Children learn the culture of aggressive driving in this way , he says .

`` We use it as an opportunity to disrespect everything and say bad words that we would be shocked to say in any other place . ''

Another problem is that after a bad commute , people tend not to let it go , James says . They walk into the office and complain about their experiences , which leads to entire conversations about bad traffic and bad drivers . This venting may feel good in the moment , but it reinforces the emotions for the next driving trip , he says .

James ' solution : Monitor your traffic emotions . You might try keeping a diary of how you feel every day after your commute , or just keep a mental note about your state of mind . What are your negative thoughts while on the road ? Are they justified ?

Confronting your internal dialogue about commuting frustrations may help . You may realize that your negative thoughts may not be proportional to the offenses you perceive from other drivers .

James recommends asking yourself : `` Am I the kind of person who thinks these things about people ? '' and `` Is this the kind of person I want to be ? ''

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Stress : When driving kills slowly

Traffic situations may trigger in us primal instincts that evolved in humans to promote survival , so that we can protect ourselves against threats , experts say .

The `` aggressive , combative , competitive frame for driving '' may be linked to our evolutionary past , but it could have implications for cardiovascular disease , says David Strayer , a psychology professor at the University of Utah .

In one experiment , Strayer and colleagues ran a simulation where people drove under the assumption that they were late to a meeting , and there was a financial incentive to get there before other people . One group drove in high-density traffic , another had an easier traffic environment . Some people were told there was a time limit .

Men more then women got into aggressive driving mode , showing an elevated blood pressure when under pressure to weave their way through heavy traffic . In general , both men and women who adopt an aggressive driving persona seem to show this , Strayer says .

`` In the simulator studies we 've done , they 'll actually start driving by cars and flipping them off and honking at them , '' Strayer says . `` That 's just a computer , a computer rendition ! ''

Long-term stress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease , he says . Research on the precise level of cardiovascular risk is limited , but recent data does n't paint a flattering picture for the vehicular commuter .

A 2012 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the farther people commute by vehicle , the higher their blood pressure and body mass index is likely to be . Also , the farther the commute , the less physical activity the person was likely to get .

Experts recommend making the extra effort to avoid peak driving hours . You may even end up getting home at the same time as if you had left earlier .

`` Maybe it is better off to say , ` I 'm going to put the radio on a station that 's nice , and kind of chill out for the 30 or 40 minutes , rather than aggressively try to get home and beat everyone else , ' '' Strayer says .

Distractions : When driving kills quickly

People get bored while driving for a long time . They want something else going on while they 're just looking at cars crawling around them . But some forms of entertainment are far more dangerous than others .

Strayer and colleagues used a driving simulator to look at just how distracting technology can be in the car . A 2008 study from his group , published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology : Applied , found that people made more errors driving while talking on a cell phone than while chatting with another passenger .

The impact of those errors is more than you might imagine . The researchers showed in a 2006 study -LRB- PDF -RRB- that talking on a cell phone , in terms of how it impairs driving , is comparable to a blood alcohol level of .08 , which is the legal limit in the United States .

About one in three fatalities on the road can be linked to some kind of distraction ; some estimates put this figure even higher , Strayer says .

Distractions in your car can slow everyone else down , too , Strayer says . Computer modeling shows that if one car is not keeping up with the flow of traffic , the number of vehicles per lane , per hour , declines as more drivers are distracted . That can add precious minutes onto the commute you 're complaining is too long anyway .

We all know that texting while driving is risky . But even hands-free , voice-activated interaction with phones can be distracting , Strayer says . Some conversations are not mundane -- you may find yourself in a heated argument or in the middle of a breakup talk -LRB- not to mention a breakup text -RRB- .

What are the precise demands on your brain with voice-activated systems and what are the consequences of that ? Bryan Reimer , research scientist at the MIT AgeLab and associate director of the New England University Transportation Center , is looking into this question .

Reimer is working with Toyota 's Collaborative Safety Research Center to study the visual and nonvisual demands of your attention while driving . Results should be out sometime next year .

`` If you feel anxiety and your phone goes off , that 's a problem , '' Strayer says . With all of the notifications barraging our smartphones from e-mail , text , social media and calendars , `` It 's a little unclear what long-term consequences of that are . ''

Changing your commute ?

After several years , the daily drive to and from work in high-traffic areas can really get under some people 's skin .

`` It was something that was taking an enormous toll on my overall happiness , on my ability to deal with stress , on the amount of free time that I had , '' says Micah Puett , who used to live in Atlanta and worked for Turner Broadcasting in the 1990s .

It was n't until Puett moved to Denver and found himself in a similarly perilous commuting situation that he realized how much the driving was affecting him . He made a bold choice : centralizing where he lives and works .

Puett now lives in a more urban neighborhood of Denver , where he can walk and bike around . In the warmer months , he 'll ride a motor scooter , and two weeks might pass without him using a car . Since he is a contractor , Puett can be selective about which companies he works for based on travel time . -LRB- He 'll accept longer commutes if they 're short-term commitments . -RRB-

`` Having lived the way I live now , you could n't pay me enough for me to live out in the suburbs , or live anywhere , and commit to a 45-minute or hourlong commute every day , '' he says . `` There 's no amount of money that I would accept to do that . ''

But there are plenty of people who do n't -- or ca n't -- draw that line . Ramona Patrick is the principal of an elementary school and drives 55 miles through Los Angeles to get to work Monday through Friday . She 'll leave later in the evening to avoid traffic , but `` your life is either on the road or at work . ''

And Minnick says she loves her job enough to make the trek from Athens three times a week . Podcasts and audio books help her get through .

`` I would never say that this is fun , '' she says of her commute . `` I feel like I 've done a good job of making it more enjoyable . I 'm really good at knowing what 's going to make me happy for two hours . ''

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Despite the perils of a long commute , most people in the United States drive to work

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Impatience -- if not handled early on -- can turn into resentment and anger , experts say

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Long commutes linked to high blood pressure and higher body mass index , study finds